Life at a lookout tower

The Helena Independent Record has an interesting story about life at an isolated lookout tower accessible only by hiking trail in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. When you go to the site, in addition to the article, it opens a video filmed at the tower. Here is an excerpt from the well-written article.

"When I first started up here, the drifts would last until the 15th or 20th of July," she said, pointing to Sugarloaf Mountain, a dinosaur-looking peak cleaving the near horizon. "Last year, there was no snow at all up here by the Fourth of July. But this year, when I opened the lookout on July 3, it was the most snow I'd ever seen - more snow than when I'd come up here in June."

The snow was so deep that when Chapman opened the lookout in early July, she had to dig a path for the pack train to get supplies to the summit. She dug four feet down and eight feet wide to make room for horses and mules.

Early this morning the mules returned, led by Tim Love with Mills Wilderness Adventures. We passed his pack train 2,000 feet up the trail as it headed down the mountain. The team was returning from a supply run, stocking Chapman's lookout with enough food, water and wood to last 14 days.

Chapman stacked the wood below the porch. She placed the yams, avocados and bananas on the tables. The canned goods she stacked in the cabinet and the baking supplies - the shortening, flour, corn meal and salt - she placed on the shelf.